Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-14
THE IRRESISTIBLE LOGIC OF MOB LAW

The hot blood of passion having now
had time to cool in this matter of the I'M
lawful and violent execution of Hong Di
at Colusa by mob, it bebooyes good citi-
zenship to look at the matter in the calm
of reasen, and reflect upon the tendency of
all such inyasions of the law and out
rageous interruptions Of the course of
Justice.
On the morning of the lynching of the
prisoner, aud within two hours after that
tragic event, the REcoRD-UNIoN said,
while holding the verdict of the jury to
have been inadequate to the atrocity of
the crime; "The action of the jury can
not be held as an excuse for the commits
sion Of a heinous crime by the people of
Colusa, for it were far better that less than
he merited degree of punishment should
BE- inflicted upon criminal than that a
community should be guilty of an equal
crime under the lawless passion of mob"
When the full news of the lynching was
at hand, and the facts were again reviewed,
the REcoRD-UNIoN again said: "The
Colusa mob outraged the law and shamed
She State by its criminal proceed
lngs. Its ofensc has added
to the catalogue of shames that
tarnish the record of the State
And still later it expressed its opinion of
the mob violence as contempt for the law
as an agency for the protection of life and
property"
We have thus endeayored to keep it
clearly before the public mind, that while
the verdict in the case was weak, deplor-
able and worthy of the criticism it has re-
ceived, it cannot in the slightest degree ex-
cuse or justify the action of the mob
There can be no judgment formed de-
tensive Of mob violence, that does not out
rage the essential elements of our system
OF safeguards for life and property. 1t was
given to the people of Colusa and of the
State to criticise and condemn the action
OF the jury. but at no time and under no
circumstances can it or any other COM
munity afford to assault the very ground
work and foundation of the social system
which it has itself erected.
Under that system, and which has the
approval of the ages and the highest
Judgment of the American people, a iuris-
prudence embodying the loftlest attain
ments Of civilization has been established.
1t gives the most solemn guarantees which
society is capable of extending, that all
invasions of the rights of life and prop
erty Of human beings, shall be examined
into before the established tribunals of the
law, and that their Judgment shall be the
final and daterminate conclusions by
which, no matter what the character of
The judgment, all men shall abide.
|. needs but little reflection on the part
oi the thinking man to see that any other
rule must lead to the domination of pas
sion and the anarchy inseparable from the
suspension of the laws. The moment any
justification of n mob is conceded. society
gives over TO the irregular passions of men
the sole power of Judging when unreason
and violence shall supplant reason and
order. The community that can give the
accused fair trial as we believe was done
AT Colusa, must abide the outcome Of that
trial, or stand convicted of such logic as
this: The Courts may try the offender.
but if the tribunal established by the svs-
TEN that secures and protects us in every
right we enjoy, renders Judgment that
does not accord with the conclusions of the
mob, IT shall not be allowed to stand. but
there shall he substituted for deliberate
Judicial conclusion the wild and irresponsi-
hle will and hot passion Of the mob"
There is no other logical. reasonable
statement Of the case to be made. Mob
law in Colusa or in New York, upon the
border land between savagery and civiliza-
ton, or in the midst of the surroundings
of law and culture, is the same. 1t dis
regards the highest attribute of eiyiliza-
tlon-the sacredness of human life.
Now 1t must be clear to those inclined
10 excuse the resort to lawlessness. that
under the rule of the mob this sacred
guard Is broken down and outraged, and
That there is given encouragement by pre-
cept and example TO a form OF assassina-
ton, and that il does not and cannot con-
tribute to the sacredness of human life.
The life OF men in Colusa county TODAY is
no more sacred and has no broader guaran-
tees by reason of the outrage and irrational
passion Of last Monday morning. On the
contrary the wall of its guarantees has
been shaken 20 its foundation by the pas
sion of the mob.
Society has established the jury system
as a part of its criminal Jurisprudence.
Until in orderly manner and by constitu-
tional methods it substitutes some other,
1t is bound by all that men hold sacred, by
every instinct o. self-I.reservatioD, by every